Thursday, November 22, 2018

style - How to avoid multiple "of-phrases" in one sentence?


I often find myself inclined to write something like the following:



Let's think about this problem from the point of view of readability and self-obvious design.



Two *of*s, which come one after another, look bad and sometimes disrupt the flow of thought. And it may be even worse — I start trying to introduce even more nested attributes, recursively.


I tried rewriting the top sentence using the readability and self-obvious design as an attribute of point of view, but that's even worse in my opinion.


How can I avoid such repetitive pattern and still be able to express complex attributes of subjects?




Answer



While what you have written here is perfectly acceptable, your points show a finely developed sense of style as well. In the case of your example, simply substituting "viewpoint of readability" should accomplish your goal.


To answer your broader question at the end, use your creativity, and find other ways to express multiple possessives. The above is an example.


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